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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23726860">Day 109</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Josh_the_Bard/pseuds/Josh_the_Bard'>Josh_the_Bard</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>A Year in Kirkwall [109]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age II</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 23:07:33</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>699</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23726860</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Josh_the_Bard/pseuds/Josh_the_Bard</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>A Year in Kirkwall [109]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1589257</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Day 109</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Paxley was at the flophouse where the Bone Pit miners slept an hour before sunrise. The daily wage of one of the miners was laughably low and he had been able to requisition it without filling out the complex requisition on forms he would have had to for a larger sum. When Porret emerged from the flophouse to go to the mine Paxley offered him a week's wage to take the day off to answer the templar’s questions. </p><p>Meredith and the others accepted that Jelika and Cedric had been the mages spotted at the mine earlier that week, the drake’s blood in the laboratory being ample proof. Whatever thralls they might have taken were assumed dead. However, something didn't feel right to Paxley. Cedric had not escaped until after the sighting. The official explanation was that he had slipped out and back to the circle before his proper escape but the templars Paxley had spoken to swore the senior enchanter had never left his chambers that night. It was hard sometimes to know who to trust. Some of the templars must be working with the mages or they would never have been able to escape as often as they did. To be on the safe side, Paxley trusted no one.</p><p>Paxley had left his armor in the barrax and was in civilian clothes. He had wanted to use a hooded cloak but it was far too warm for that to be inconspicuous. He settled for a plain brown tunic. Paxley and Porret went to the Hangem Man where Paxley opened a tab and got a table in a remote correr of the tavern. The barmaid brought them over some watered down ale and then left them alone.</p><p>“What do you want to know Sir,” Porret asked, taking a swig of his ale.</p><p>“How good of a look did you get of the mages you saw at the Bone Pit that night?”</p><p>“I thought those mages had been caught.”</p><p>Paxley leaned in and dropped his voice even further. “We caught and killed two mages. Whether or not they were the right ones is a mystery. They mages are craftry they are, I think they may have left us a false trail. But I can’t know unless you tell me what the ones you saw looked like.”</p><p>Porret looked nervous but he nodded his understanding. Poor man, Paxley thought, he was just trying to live a normal life and got caught up in a magical conspiracy. Unless he was in one it… but Paxley would have to reserve judgment for now.</p><p>“Well the man had an accent, Rivani or Antivan I think,” Porret said. Cedric was born and raised in Kirkwall, he had never even left the city, although an accent could be faked.</p><p>“I got a better look at the woman,” Porret continued. “She was tall, with black hair tied into braids and-”</p><p>“Whas she a human or an elf?” Paxley demanded. In his excitement his voice got too loud and he dropped it back to a whisper. “Did you get a look at the ears?”</p><p>“If she was an elf,” Porret said, “she was taller than any I’ve ever seen, and wider.”</p><p>“Thank you,” Paxley said, summoning another round of ale for his informant. Jelika had been average sized for an elf and would never have been mistaken for a human. He hurried out of the Hanged Man ready to continue his investigation. He didn’t know where to begin but he knew that his target was devious and not above sacrificing her fellow mages to achieve her ends. She was also an accomplished blood mage and… and maybe had contacts within the templar order. Paxley could trust no one on this yet he could not face the mages alone.</p><p>The Champion had been known to hunt apostates but he was also a mage and not to be trusted. There was only one person in the entire city Paxley could turn to for help. He wandered through several gutters before he found who he was looking for.</p><p>“I have a job I need done discreetly,” Paxley said. “I’ll pay in lyrium.”</p><p>“Don’t care what it is,” Sampson said. “I’m in.”</p>
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